Review: MicroBot needs a shot of adrenaline

EA tries to mix Innerspace with Geometry Wars, but does Xbox Live Arcade really need another dual-stick shooter – no matter how pretty it may look?

MicroBot (360) – Not so fantastic voyage

The dual-stick shooter is to Xbox Live Arcade what the first person shooter is to the Xbox 360 itself. Ever since Geometry Wars became the first big hit for the download service it’s been drowning in wannabe clones trying to copy both it and its spiritual forebears Robotron 2084 and Smash T.V. It just so happens that those are two of our favourite ever arcade games, but at some point you’ve got to say enough is enough.To be fair this does try to do things a little differently, starting with its Innerspace style setting of a human body. You control a tiny nanomachine injected into a patient’s bloodstream (we’re assuming it’s human but it’s never explicitly stated) and sent off to eradicate all the evil nanobots that have infected the body.This sort of Fantastic Voyage style setting is not an uncommon one for 2D shooters, with games like Gradius revelling in their grotesquely pulsing organic backdrops. But MicroBot tries to play things relatively straight and although the biological environments are often strikingly beautiful the enemies tend towards the tediously plausible rather than the exotically unlikely.But it’s not just the enemies that are uninteresting. From the first moment you’re injected into the bloodstream the pace is unhurried and unexciting. The game appears lost in admiration for its own graphics, which although impressive do quickly become repetitive. Rather than compensating for this with some well-crafted level design developers Naked Sky have decided to do the opposite and rely on procedurally generated stages instead – thereby exacerbating the problem in the worst way possible.Apart from the setting the game’s main point of interest is the high level of customisation available for your nanobot. As you collect blueprints from destroyed enemies you can upgrade your weapons (one for each claw) and your means of locomotion. Despite having two separate weapons at once the dual-stick controls (left analogue stick for movement, right for firing) means that the potential for using both at once is never fully realised.Other passive health and power upgrades are also available, as well as secondary weapons and equipment such as a harpoon, smart bomb and a bullet time device. You can change your configuration at multiple points during a level and upgrade existing equipment multiple times (by collecting a de facto currency referred to as ‘atoms’).The problem is though that none of it seems very necessary and which weapons and equipment you decide to use becomes a matter of personal preference, rather than strategic necessity. We quickly settled for a middle-of-the-road set-up, that offered a good balance between speed, power and defence, and it sufficed perfectly well for the majority of the game.But whether the customisation options are wasted or not the real issue is simply that the game is so slow and tedious. Sometimes there are enough enemies onscreen for it to feel like a real twin-stick shooter but the intentionally gloopy movement (considering what you’re swimming through) spoils even those relative highlights.In what we assume is an attempt to distance itself from its peers there’s not even a proper scoring system in the main game, only in the separate challenge mode. There is the option to play along with a friend on the same console, but it doesn’t help address any of the game’s intrinsic faults.We’d like to say that at least this is trying something different, but repeating the most clichéd gameplay style on Xbox Live Arcade with slightly different scenery isn’t the same thing as coming up with a new idea.In Short:Innerspace meets Smash T.V., except retaining only the worst elements of both in this slow-paced and tedious dual-stick shooter.Pros:The level of customisation available for your nanobot is excellent. The graphics and ambient music create an unusual atmosphere. Plenty of levels.Cons:The action is dull, repetitive and poorly paced. Little use is made of the customisation options and the lack of handmade levels is keenly felt.Score:4/10Formats: Xbox Live Arcade (reviewed) and PlayStation NetworkPrice: 800 Microsoft Points/£6.85, cert 7Publisher: Electronic ArtsDeveloper: Naked Sky EntertainmentRelease Date: 29th December 2010